IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/urbstu/v57y2020i3p636-654.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

From cities to super mega city regions in China in a new wave of urbanisation and economic transition: Issues and challenges

Author

Listed:
  • Anthony Gar-On Yeh

    (Department of Urban Planning and Design, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR)

  • Zifeng Chen

    (Department of Urban Planning and Design, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR)

Abstract

A mega city region comprises a cluster of highly networked urban settlements anchored by one or more large cities. Substantial studies have been conducted in the 21st century to theorise the development of mega city regions from two perspectives: one focuses on the rationale/challenges of planning and governance while the other focuses on the economic forces that generate the mega city regions. In China, the outstanding position of mega city regions in China’s economic development has been accentuated in both academic research and recent policies. Recent studies have unpacked the political dynamics of mega city regions in China and identified challenges for planning and governance. The present study approaches this issue through another theoretical lens and deciphers the economic process underneath the recent upsurge of Chinese mega city regions. By unfolding the economic transition since the late 1970s to trace the footprints of mega city region development, the paper contributes a discourse of how different waves of economic transition – that is, rural industrialisation, land-centred development and urban tertiarisation – have been steering individual cities towards super mega city regions. The paper also identifies the distinctive challenges confronting the future development of China’s mega city regions, including jurisdictional fragmentation, socio-spatial inequality and environmental externalities, which were created because of the strong bottom-up initiatives in land development during rural industrialisation. New policies and planning are required in response to these challenges as well as to the emerging new industries in the new wave of economic transition (i.e. from labour-intensive industries to the development of high-tech industries).

Suggested Citation

  • Anthony Gar-On Yeh & Zifeng Chen, 2020. "From cities to super mega city regions in China in a new wave of urbanisation and economic transition: Issues and challenges," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 57(3), pages 636-654, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:57:y:2020:i:3:p:636-654
    DOI: 10.1177/0042098019879566
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0042098019879566
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0042098019879566?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gordon L. Clark, 2002. "London in the European financial services industry: locational advantage and product complementarities," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 2(4), pages 433-453, October.
    2. Jingxiang Zhang & Fulong Wu, 2006. "China's changing economic governance: Administrative annexation and the reorganization of local governments in the Yangtze River Delta," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(1), pages 3-21.
    3. Scott, Allen J. (ed.), 2001. "Global City-Regions: Trends, Theory, Policy," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198297994.
    4. P. J. Taylor & D. M. Evans & K. Pain, 2008. "Application of the Interlocking Network Model to Mega-City-Regions: Measuring Polycentricity Within and Beyond City-Regions," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(8), pages 1079-1093.
    5. Fulong Wu, 2016. "China's Emergent City-Region Governance: A New Form of State Spatial Selectivity through State-orchestrated Rescaling," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(6), pages 1134-1151, November.
    6. Chang Chun & Wang Yijiang, 1994. "The Nature of the Township-Village Enterprise," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 434-452, December.
    7. Jiang Xu & Anthony G.O. Yeh, 2005. "City Repositioning and Competitiveness Building in Regional Development: New Development Strategies in Guangzhou, China," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 283-308, June.
    8. Kevin Ward & Andrew E G Jonas, 2004. "Competitive City-Regionalism as a Politics of Space: A Critical Reinterpretation of the New Regionalism," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 36(12), pages 2119-2139, December.
    9. Fiona F Yang & Anthony G O Yeh, 2013. "Spatial Development of Producer Services in the Chinese Urban System," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 45(1), pages 159-179, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Haitao Wu & Shiyue Luo & Suixin Li & Yan Xue & Yu Hao, 2024. "Fostering Urban Inclusive Green Growth: Does Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Matter?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 189(4), pages 677-698, February.
    2. Simin Yan & Anna Growe, 2022. "Regional Planning, Land-Use Management, and Governance in German Metropolitan Regions—The Case of Rhine–Neckar Metropolitan Region," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-24, November.
    3. Weisong Li & Jiahui Wu & Liyan Yang & Wanxu Chen & Xinghua Cui & Mingyu Lin, 2024. "Spatial Variations in Relationships between Urbanization and Carbon Emissions in Chinese Urban Agglomerations," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-20, August.
    4. Lei, Weiqian & Jiao, Limin & Xu, Gang, 2022. "Understanding the urban scaling of urban land with an internal structure view to characterize China’s urbanization," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    5. Kong, Dongmin & Shi, Zheng & Xiong, Mengxu, 2024. "Currency overvaluation and export product quality: Evidence from China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    6. Raimbault, Juste & Le Néchet, Florent, 2021. "Introducing endogenous transport provision in a LUTI model to explore polycentric governance systems," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    7. Adam Peacock & Simon Pemberton, 2024. "The neglected spaces of economic rescaling: Insights into the in-between spaces of city-regionalism," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 42(3), pages 417-436, May.
    8. Andrew EG Jonas, 2020. "China’s urban development in context: Variegated geographies of city-regionalism and managing the territorial politics of urban development," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 57(3), pages 701-708, February.
    9. Xiaowen Li & Yiming Tan & Desheng Xue, 2022. "From World Factory to Global City-Region: The Dynamics of Manufacturing in the Pearl River Delta and Its Spatial Pattern in the 21st Century," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-19, April.
    10. C. Cindy Fan, 2024. "Globalizing research on global cities and international business," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 55(1), pages 28-36, February.
    11. He Sun & Xueming Li & Yingying Guan & Shenzhen Tian & He Liu, 2021. "The Evolution of the Urban Residential Space Structure and Driving Forces in the Megacity—A Case Study of Shenyang City," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-19, October.
    12. Yifu Ou & Euijune Kim & Xingjian Liu & Kyung-Min Nam, 2023. "Delineating functional regions from road networks: The case of South Korea," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 50(6), pages 1677-1694, July.
    13. Chris Hamnett, 2020. "Is Chinese urbanisation unique?," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 57(3), pages 690-700, February.
    14. Haiyan Lu & Erik Braun & Martin de Jong & Yun Song & Miaoxi Zhao, 2023. "‘Thin’ Regional Identities: Economic Instrumentality or Pathway to Thickness? The Case of the Pearl River Delta," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 114(2), pages 94-116, April.
    15. Shengqiang Jing & Yueguan Yan & Fangqu Niu & Wenhui Song, 2022. "Urban Expansion in China: Spatiotemporal Dynamics and Determinants," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-16, February.
    16. Shao, Shuai & Razzaq, Asif, 2022. "Does composite fiscal decentralization reduce trade-adjusted resource consumption through institutional governance, human capital, and infrastructure development?," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    17. Changchang Zhou & Meixu Zhan & Xun An & Xu Huang, 2022. "Social Inclusion Concerning Migrants in Guangzhou City and the Spatial Differentiation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-16, November.
    18. Tayyaba Rani & Feng Wang & Fawad Rauf & Qurat ul Ain & Hamid Ali, 2023. "Linking personal remittance and fossil fuels energy consumption to environmental degradation: evidence from all SAARC countries," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(8), pages 8447-8468, August.
    19. Wilco, Chan & Leon, Liu & Chammy, Lau & Derek, Pang, 2024. "Rest station's value-added amenities for biking tourism and leisure: Perspectives of seasoned bicyclists and infrequent bicyclists," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 1-10.
    20. Teixeira, Filipe Marques & Derudder, Ben, 2021. "Spatio-temporal dynamics in airport catchment areas: The case of the New York Multi Airport Region," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    21. Fulong Wu, 2020. "Adding new narratives to the urban imagination: An introduction to ‘New directions of urban studies in China’," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 57(3), pages 459-472, February.
    22. Jiawei Wu & Wei Sun, 2023. "Regional Integration and Sustainable Development in the Yangtze River Delta, China: Towards a Conceptual Framework and Research Agenda," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-20, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Fulong Wu, 2016. "China's Emergent City-Region Governance: A New Form of State Spatial Selectivity through State-orchestrated Rescaling," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(6), pages 1134-1151, November.
    2. Anthony GO Yeh & Fiona F Yang & Jiejing Wang, 2015. "Producer service linkages and city connectivity in the mega-city region of China: A case study of the Pearl River Delta," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 52(13), pages 2458-2482, October.
    3. Kathy Pain, 2011. "Spatial Transformations of Cities: Global City-region? Mega-city Region?," Chapters, in: Ben Derudder & Michael Hoyler & Peter J. Taylor & Frank Witlox (ed.), International Handbook of Globalization and World Cities, chapter 9, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    4. Fulong Wu, 2020. "Adding new narratives to the urban imagination: An introduction to ‘New directions of urban studies in China’," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 57(3), pages 459-472, February.
    5. Peter J. Taylor, 2011. "The Interlocking Network Model," Chapters, in: Ben Derudder & Michael Hoyler & Peter J. Taylor & Frank Witlox (ed.), International Handbook of Globalization and World Cities, chapter 6, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    6. Andrew E. G. Jonas & Andrew R. Goetz & Sutapa Bhattacharjee, 2014. "City-regionalism as a Politics of Collective Provision: Regional Transport Infrastructure in Denver, USA," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 51(11), pages 2444-2465, August.
    7. Loraine Kennedy, 2017. "State restructuring and emerging patterns of subnational policy-making and governance in China and India," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 35(1), pages 6-24, February.
    8. Yanpeng Jiang & Paul Waley, 2020. "Small horse pulls big cart in the scalar struggles of competing administrations in Anhui Province, China," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 38(2), pages 329-346, March.
    9. Proinnsias Breathnach, 2014. "Creating City-region Governance Structures in a Dysfunctional Polity: The Case of Ireland’s National Spatial Strategy," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 51(11), pages 2267-2284, August.
    10. Andrew EG Jonas, 2020. "China’s urban development in context: Variegated geographies of city-regionalism and managing the territorial politics of urban development," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 57(3), pages 701-708, February.
    11. Anthony GO Yeh & Fiona F Yang & Jiejing Wang, 2015. "Economic transition and urban transformation of China: The interplay of the state and the market," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 52(15), pages 2822-2848, November.
    12. Jin, Wanfu & Zhou, Chunshan & Zhang, Guojun, 2020. "Characteristics of state-owned construction land supply in Chinese cities by development stage and industry," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    13. George CS Lin & Xun Li & Fiona F Yang & Fox ZY Hu, 2015. "Strategizing urbanism in the era of neoliberalization: State power reshuffling, land development and municipal finance in urbanizing China," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 52(11), pages 1962-1982, August.
    14. Zhang, Xianchun & Sun, Yi, 2019. "Investigating institutional integration in the contexts of Chinese city-regionalization: Evidence from Shenzhen–Dongguan–Huizhou," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    15. Yanlin Zhen & Dehao Shi & Yanan Lu, 2023. "The Impact of Regional Integration Strategies on the Formation of City Regions and Its Agglomeration Shadow: Evidence from the Yangtze River Delta, China," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-16, May.
    16. Xingjian Liu, 2020. "Assessing airport ground access by public transport in Chinese cities," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 57(2), pages 267-285, February.
    17. Juan Miguel Kanai, 2014. "Capital of the Amazon Rainforest: Constructing a Global City-region for Entrepreneurial Manaus," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 51(11), pages 2387-2405, August.
    18. Fulong Wu & Nicholas A Phelps, 2011. "(Post)Suburban Development and State Entrepreneurialism in Beijing's Outer Suburbs," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 43(2), pages 410-430, February.
    19. Andy Pike & John Tomaney, 2004. "Subnational Governance and Economic and Social Development," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 36(12), pages 2091-2096, December.
    20. Xu Zhang, 2018. "Multiple creators of knowledge-intensive service networks: A case study of the Pearl River Delta city-region," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 55(9), pages 2000-2019, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:57:y:2020:i:3:p:636-654. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.gla.ac.uk/departments/urbanstudiesjournal .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.